08/10/2024
Once or twice a year, my Mountain Leader pal Gaby and I get together for an overnight trip, usually involving some walking in the dark to maintain our night /poor visibility navigation skills.
The venue this time was 2 relatively unvisited Munros between Linn of Dee and Glen Feshie. We opted to cycle in from Linn of Dee on good tracks, taking alternative footwear for the obligatory river crossing. A lunch stop at the newly completed Red House bothy had us thinking that maybe camping at Geldie Lodge ruins wasn't the best plan....so we left our overnight gear and continued to An Sgarsoch, summiting at 16.45, and then onto Carn an Fidhleir at 18.15. The visibility was great, and the clouds were draping themselves over hill tops like lacy covers. It was dark as we descended the hill, and we had great fun maintaining a bearing over extremely rough peat hag terrain to pick up the end of the path our bikes were on. At one point, once back on the path, we turned our torches off....and saw a 'Steve'! ( A very rare phenomenon related to aurora, I didn't know what it was when I saw it but commented that I'd never seen anything like it before...I get home and there it is, reported in the news https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/c4g0j7zn813o )
A very cautious cycle return on a rough track in the dark had us back at the bothy for 10pm....and it was packed! On a Monday night in October! So we scoffed some dinner, happy in the warmth of the stove and grateful for the endless supply of hot water from the enormous kettle on it, and then put our tents up outside the bothy and listened to the endless roaring of stags all night. Not much sleep had but hey, we saw a 'Steve' 😁
